


Vertical Limit

by Lailyn



Series: Natural Selection [1]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avenger Loki (Marvel), Avengers Family, Brotherly Love, Drama, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Hurt Loki (Marvel), Hurt/Comfort, Loki (Marvel) Has Issues, Loki (Marvel) Needs a Hug, M/M, Mild slash, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Sick Loki (Marvel), Stephen Strange is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23026375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lailyn/pseuds/Lailyn
Summary: A harmless movie night turns awry when a bad memory jars Loki to the point of catatonia; good thing Doctor Stephen Strange is around to lend a hand.A fill fic for a prompt I received on Tumblr.
Relationships: Loki & Stephen Strange, Loki & Thor, Loki/Stephen Strange, Stephen Strange & Thor
Series: Natural Selection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661710
Comments: 15
Kudos: 258





	Vertical Limit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [megloveslokitooomuch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/megloveslokitooomuch/gifts).



“You’re gonna like this one.”

“Bruce, this movie’s like twenty years old!”

“I don’t know, I’ve kinda been on a Bill Paxton movie kick lately…”

“Ooh, I liked Bill Paxton. He was excellent in Tombstone. Most dramatic death scene ever. Rest in peace, Morgan.” Tony hurriedly added, “Earp.”

“Rest in peace, Bill.” Bruce hugged the DVD to his chest mournfully.

A collective, “He’s _dead?!_ ”

“He had a damaged heart valve from childhood rheumatic fever. Died from a stroke a few weeks after he had the surgery to fix it.”

Everyone turned to Strange.

“What?” The sorcerer shrugged defensively. “I read the news sometimes.”

And since everybody’s attention was on him, he might as well express his unease about his current predicament, “Why am I here?”

“Yeah. Why am I here?” A silky-smooth voice parroted from somewhere behind him, and Stephen turned, more in shock, for how could someone sneak up on him without him noticing –

A pair of green, green eyes glared down at him. The rest of Loki was as dark as his looming shadow, making him appear three times larger as he towered over Stephen’s head.

Oh, he _so_ did not need this today.

“Well,” Stephen cheerily said, rising to his feet, “Looks like you’ve got enough playmates to keep you company, Stark. I’m afraid I have more pressing matters to attend to –”

“Oh no, you don’t.” As if of one mind, The Cloak pushed Stephen back into the plush, three-seater sofa, and Tony winked at what he assumed to be the sentient relic’s main source of visual input, its lapels. “Reality isn’t gonna collapse on you just because you take a break once in a while.”

“Come on, Wizard. Don’t tell me there are still hard feelings between you two?” Thor bellowed. “You are on the same side now!”

“Inside voice, Thor,” Loki growled under his breath. “Inside voice!”

“Sorry, Brother.” Thor dropped his voice a few decibels lower. “He’s always been sensitive to overstimulation since he was little.”

_“Thor!”_

“Alright, alright!” Bruce clapped his hands together, “Places everybody. Movie’s starting!”

“Oh, look at that, all the seats are taken,” Loki said brightly. “Goodbye –”

“Not so fast, de Pointe du Lac.”

 _“Who??”_ Loki was really tiring of all these nonsensical nicknames with dubious origins – nonsensical to him apparently, for the ever-infuriating Bruce Banner was nodding away, presumably at how fitting it was, “Out of all my Names, Stark, couldn’t you have just stuck to one?”

“He's the protagonist from The Vampire Chronicles, if I remember my pop literature correctly,” Stephen hid a snicker behind an askew glance in Loki's direction and a half-amused snort. “He’s more Armand if you ask me. Louis' hair was too nice.”

Ever the God of Good Timing, Thor once again stopped Loki from letting Stephen Strange have a taste of his daggers by clamping his giant hands over his Brother’s wrists. “Is this what we are to watch?” 

“Excellent. Look, Brother, it is your favourite actor, Chris…” Thor squinted at the DVD cover Bruce was still holding, “- uh, O’Donnell!”

“Who now?” Loki glowered.

“Will you decide quickly?” Stephen asked flatly, totally oblivious to how close his throat came to feeling the biting cold of Eternal Winter. “Sit or stay, I don’t care. Just don’t stand in the middle of the room, you’re blocking everybody’s view.”

Again, “ _Excellent_ ,” Thor exclaimed in glee, and again, he acted on his Brother’s behalf, for there was only so much social niceties Loki could manage before his wrath sucked the fun out of everybody’s night – he pulled on Loki’s hand and planted his bristling Brother between himself and the equally stunned Stephen Strange.

As soon as their thighs made contact, Loki froze.

But no matter how hard he tried to give a wide berth between himself and the insufferable human witch, Thor’s considerable size allowed no give at all, and short of shifting into a smaller form (A snake! A King Cobra! A Black Mamba! The more poisonous, the better!) Loki was left with no realistic choice but to stew in discontent, disgust and disbelief –

For why was this Sorcerer Supreme not budging? Why was Stephen Strange letting his so-called friends do this to him?

“Suck it up. We do this once, we don’t have to do it again.” Stephen’s lips barely moved.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Loki tried to make himself comfortable, but the velvet cushion seemed to swallow him deeper the more he squirmed. In the end, he crossed his legs defiantly, which worked, but only for the next five seconds or so before Stephen emulated him out of spite and discomfort alike, crossing his legs in the opposite direction.

They both realised their mistake when their hips collided, and once again, they froze. _Shit_.

“How long did you say this film was?” Loki gritted through his teeth.

“Two hours,” Stephen said coolly. “Surely you can manage being civil for that long?”

“Oh I can.” Loki said just as aloofly. “The question is: can you?”

“If you can keep your hands and your daggers to yourself, sure.”

“Only if you could kindly remove your cape from upon _me_.” Loki glared at the Cloak who was attempting to touch his cheek for the second time since they had huddled together. “What is with this thing?”

Stephen glanced at him out the corner of one eye, smiled an evil smile, and did absolutely _nothing_.

“Appease its curiousity, Brother, and perhaps you may then enjoy this movie in peace.” Thor too, sounded amused.

Green fire began to spark the ends of Loki’s fingers, and Thor was quick to extinguish it with his bare hand. “No, Loki!”

Bruce cleared his throat loudly. “Can we start now?”

Loki smiled viciously. “You sure you want me here, Doctor? I might just stay for the full two hours.”

“Uh, personally I don’t give a toss who stays or goes, but Cap here says this is a good team-building activity so. Yeah, go for it,” was Bruce’s carefree, chirpy answer, but his “Everybody ready?” came out hurried and frazzled.

As did everyone’s sullen, drawn-out ‘Yes’, and Stephen settled back in his seat with a sigh.

It was going to be a long, long night.

He was going to give it thirty minutes, at most, before he would create the most convincing disaster story involving some sort of magic mishap or sentient Mesopotamian relic gone rogue or something and get the hell out of there.

It took less than ten minutes for the proverbial shit to hit the fan.

On the screen in an intense opening scene, the sibling rock climbers Annie and Peter were dangling over a ravine, with nothing anchoring them to the rocks but a lone grappling hook that was precariously coming looser and looser by the second.

As Peter grappled for some semblance of leverage, their father dangled below _him_ , swaying in the air with only the belaying rope around his waist standing between him and certain death.

 _“Cut me loose, Peter!”_ Royce yelled, desperate to save his son and his daughter. _“One cam can’t hold us all!”_

 _“No, Peter, don’t!”_ Annie screamed. The grappling hook screeched and squeaked and scraped against the shallow nook in the rocks.

_“It’s one dead or three, Peter.”_

_“I won’t do it!”_ Peter hollered as he stared down at his father hanging some thirty feet below.

 _“Don’t make him do this,”_ Annie wept. “Don’t do this!”

_“You’ll kill your sister! Cut the damn rope!”_

Royce gave his son one last, encouraging smile through his tears.

_“I love you.”_

A low keening, whining sound emanated from somewhere to the left of Stephen.

_Hmm?_

When the leather-clad thigh next to him started to shake, Stephen’s instinct began to set off alarm bells.

“Loki?” Thor peered at his brother, but Stephen doubted he could see very much what with the way Loki’s long, dark hair was hanging down the sides of his head like curtains.

“What’s the matter, Pop-Pop?” Tony quipped from the seat behind them, his shadow looming over Loki, eclipsing what little was visible of his face. “You peckish already?”

“Loki? Brother, are you alright?” Thor asked sharply.

When Loki’s entire body began to jerk, Stephen shot to his feet.

His training kicking in, he tried to pull the unresponsive Asgardian out of the sofa and onto the floor, but Loki’s limbs were locked in tetanic spasm and not budging at all.

Stephen grabbed the sides of Loki’s face to methodically examine him from the head down, ticking off his mental checklist: semi-dilated pupils, but equal and reactive to light –

He prodded at Loki’s neck next and his frown deepened. “Heart rate’s off the charts. Is someone timing this?”

“Fifteen seconds, Doctor,” Bruce said helpfully.

“Thank you, Doctor Banner,” Stephen said. “Tell me if we’re nearing the five-minute mark. If this doesn’t arrest soon, we might have to give him an anticonvulsant. Diazepam, Lorazepam, whatever you have.”

“On it.” Bruce sounded unsure, but was relieved nonetheless that he was not in charge of having to make any medical decisions for once. “You think it’s a seizure?”

“Shouldn’t we put a spoon or something in between his teeth, like a bite block?” Steve asked uncertainly. “Like they used to do in the olden days?”

“That’s the very last thing you should do,” Stephen muttered. “Asgardian strength aside, I’d hate to have to trawl through his guts for pieces of broken cutlery should he snap it and swallow them by accident.”

Something told him to feel Loki’s hands; true enough, they were ice-cold to the touch.

“He’s freezing. Why is he freezing?” Stephen muttered. He tried not to think too much as he started rubbing Loki’s hands between his own furiously. “Levi!”

In response to her Master’s call, the sentient Cloak flew from where it was hanging on the coat rack and settled around Loki’s shoulders, taking over from Stephen to rub Loki’s hands together enthusiastically like they were kindling

“What ails my Brother, Wizard?” Thor demanded.

Stephen ignored him in what seemed to Bruce to be a remarkable feat; he would rather not have Thor breathing down his neck, thank you very much.

“It could be a partial or an absence seizure seeing how he’s still conscious, and hopefully something he can snap out on his own. Watching a movie in a darkened room could have triggered an episode.”

“No,” Tony interrupted out of the blue. “This is no seizure, Doctor.”

“Stark?” 

“He’s having a flashback.” Tony crouched in front of the couch, careful to keep a safe distance, urging with his arm for the others to do the same. “Best not crowd him.”

“A flashback,” Stephen repeated doubtfully, casting his billionaire friend a suspicious look.

“I’ve had more than my share. I know what one looks like.”

 _“Thor.”_ Like a snapped tether, Loki suddenly lurched forward and Stephen nearly fell backward onto his rear; he regained his balance quickly enough, but not before Loki’s hands shot out to grab onto Stephen’s shoulders.

Stephen’s first knee-jerk response was to shove him away, but the Asgardian’s hot, raspy breaths whistled in his ear as Loki chanted an indiscernible word over and over.

It was a language Stephen had never heard before, and he knew a great many languages, dead or alive. “What is he saying, Thor?”

Thor leaned in closer to listen and his face immediately darkened upon realising that Loki was speaking in their native Asgardian tongue a word so deeply-rooted in Loki’s soul, so private that the sentient Allspeak must be protecting him by not translating it for the public.

“ _Dark_ ,” Thor translated, and a sudden hush fell over Tony’s home theatre room, brightly-lit in contrast to Loki’s dark mutterings. “ _Too dark._ ”

“What on earth could have triggered it?” Tony muttered. He grabbed the remote control and hit rewind.

“No, don’t!” Thor swiped it out of Tony’s hand forcefully, eliciting a painful, “Ow!! _Jeez_ , Thor, what the hell -?!”

“Don’t,” Thor said roughly, for though he may not be as affected, he certainly did not need to see the painful scene again, even if its meaning was a mystery to his human counterparts.

He turned his attention back to Loki.

“Loki? Brother?” Thor grabbed the side of Loki’s neck. “Loki, it’s not real.”

When Loki did not respond, Thor grabbed the other side of Loki’s neck, shouldering Stephen out of the way. “It’s _over_. Wake up.”

“I can help him,” Stephen said haltingly, reluctantly.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Thor demanded.

At Stephen’s unceasing hesitation, Thor curled his fingers around Stephen’s lapel. “Will you not put aside your differences and help him?”

“I can help him,” Stephen said sharply, “But he won’t like it.”

As the Ancient One once told him,

“Thoughts shape reality," Stephen explained. “I will need to break his. Only then will he return to reality.”

He gave Thor a knowing look. “Our reality.”

Thor’s grip eased as the hidden meaning behind Stephen’s words sank in. “Help him.”

“You’re absolutely certain?” Stephen asked quietly.

Thor looked only more determined. “I’ll tell him I made you do it.”

With a curt nod, Stephen placed the tips of his fingers to each of Loki’s pulsating temples and concentrated.

He braced himself for the onslaught of sights and sounds, foreign images that made Loki who he was, why he was…memories? Nightmares? Somewhere in between? Stephen knew to expect the unknown…

But what Stephen did not expect was the total silence.

Had it not been for the vast emptiness around him, Stephen would have mistaken the silence for that of a tomb.

And there Loki was, floating in the dead nothingness before him, eyes empty and devoid of life, face yet unlined in the prime of his youth, frozen in the interstices of time and space.

Loki was dead.

Was this not a tomb after all, then? This dead place, this Void?

Stephen could not be too late, could he?

He reached out with his magic, not knowing if his touch was welcome -

The golden tendrils touched Loki’s face and Loki’s chest heaved in a gasp, but out here there was simply no air. No voice.

_Who are you?_

Yet Stephen heard it anyway.

 _It’s not important_ , Stephen held out a hand. _Come with me._

_Did Father send you?_

When Stephen did not answer, the hopeful desperation in Loki's eyes died, and with it all light and all youth from his face.

This Loki was _young_ , so, so young.

_Are you Death?_

Stephen’s heart shattered.

 _No_. He tried to smile but found he could not. _Come with me._

_I can’t._

_Yes, you can._

Loki’s eyes filled with tears. _There is no escape._

_Yes, there is. And you **have** escaped. _

_I don’t know you._

_Yes, you do. We've met._

A pain began to clamp around the back of Stephen’s head and threaten to cleave it in two. He needed to hurry.

_Loki. Take my hand. Now!_

Loki looked at his outstretched hand.

They were not going to make it.

_Loki, hurry!!_

Loki lunged to catch it not a moment too soon, for the fragile reality collapsed just as they touched -

With a gasp, Stephen reeled backward and rammed into Thor’s burly chest, who quickly righted both their positions, “Strange!”

Stephen catapulted himself off his heels to crouch before Loki once more, his heart hammering in his chest – did he get them both out in time? “Loki?”

Loki shuddered once before his eyes rolled up into his head and his body went slack; Stephen caught him before he could topple out of the seat and onto the floor.

“Thor, a little help?” Stephen grunted as he struggled with the dead weight in his arms.

Thor collected all of Loki’s gangling limbs and hefted them effortlessly into a bridal carry, nudging his brother higher up his shoulder when Loki’s head started lolling like a rag doll.

“Should we take him to the hospital or something?” Tony scratched his jaw as he watched Stephen feel for the pulse in Loki’s neck. “He’s not dead, is he?”

“He can stay with me,” Stephen interrupted. “I need to make sure there are no lasting effects from the intrusion into his mind. Best to do it in a protected environment.”

At the collective exchange of uncertain looks, he added dryly. “I may not look it but I am still a registered medical practitioner.”

He gave Tony a sharp look. “This was what you intended, wasn’t it? For me to serve as medical standby?” he asked sarcastically.

“Now, now, Doctor – ” Tony looked and sounded more than a little guilty.

“Save it.” With a series of hand gestures, Stephen conjured a portal. “Thor, make haste.”

_____________________________________

“What did you see?” Thor wasted no time cornering Stephen once Loki was finally resting in the safe confines of the Sanctum.

Stephen did not answer. He busied himself looking for a spare duvet in the linen closet. For some reason, Loki looked cold.

“Did you see Odin?” Thor asked very quietly after a pregnant pause. “Did you see me?”

Stephen’s hand stilled in the midst of covering Loki’s lower body with the thin blanket he managed to scavenge.

Stephen shook his head ‘No’, but his tongue had a mind of its own, bitter and biting. “Did you let him go?”

This time, it was Thor who was rendered silent.

“Did Odin?” Stephen pressed.

Finally, “I love my Brother, Strange.” Thor shook his head slowly. “We don’t let go of family.”

“How you see him now…” Thor pulled the blanket the rest of the way up and over Loki’s chest, “ – is not how he was.”

Stephen needed only to hear the longing in Thor’s voice and he felt something in him give.

Out of all people, Thor needed to hear it the most. “He’s still in there, Thor.”

Thor looked up at him through red-rimmed eyes, forehead furrowed.

“The Loki you grew up with,” Stephen said serenely. He was telling the truth after all.

 _He is?_ Thor’s nose flared slightly, his throat bobbing up and down.

Stephen only nodded.

The seconds stretched into minutes, lapsing into time past and gone and irretrievable, when at long last, the God of Thunder shattered the comfortable silence, with a gruff, choked, “Thank you.”

_“Thank you.”_

______________________________________

“You are safe. This is Sanctum Sanctorum. She will not harm you.”

“Am I trapped in another one of your detestable dimensions?”

“If so, then it’s one you’ve been in for the past…five years or so?” Stephen wrinkled his nose. “The nastier ones are reserved for prisoners.”

“What did you see?” Loki asked, sounding more fearful than angry.

“Nothing you did not want me to see.” At the look of disbelief on Loki's face, Stephen reiterated, “I saw nothing.”

“You were not – ” Loki’s voice caught in his throat with his rising panic, “What did you see?”

“Nothing, Loki!” Stephen said forcefully. His hand hovered in the air as if to touch, to placate…Loki glared, and it dropped back in Stephen’s lap like a piece of hot coal. “I only saw you.”

A derisive scoff, “And you expect me to believe that.”

Stephen shrugged. “Believe what you will. Me? I believe in the concept in patient consent, which only you could give.” He cleared his throat loudly. “Or the next of kin.”

 _“Thor…”_ Never had Loki felt like cursing his Brother’s name more.

“He’s right outside if you want me to get him?” Stephen offered. “He hasn’t moved since we brought you here.”

“Why _did_ you bring me here?” Loki squinted up at the cloisters that made up the ceiling. “Is this your bedroom?”

“ _Spare_ bedroom,” Stephen corrected. “I have already intruded your mind, I sure as hell wasn’t going to enter your bedroom unsolicited. And besides – ” Stephen clucked his tongue in distaste, “Too many eyes were watching.”

Loki groaned aloud as the memories came crashing back, “How embarrassing.” He flung an arm over his eyes. “All this over a stupid movie.”

“But that’s just it. It’s not about the movie, is it?” Stephen asked quietly.

“Anything can be a trigger, Loki.”

“You know not of what you speak, Strange,” Loki snarled.

“I don’t,” Stephen concurred readily. “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong.”

Loki opened his mouth to retort something presumably scathing, but Stephen beat him to it, albeit with a much gentler proclamation.

“Tyres,” he said softly.

“What?” Loki must have heard him wrong.

“For me, it’s screeching tyres.”

Stephen showed his hands. They shook freely as they were wont to do whenever Stephen was not actively trying to hide them. “Still brings me back to that night.”

At the blank look on Loki’s face, Stephen hesitantly added, “I was in a terrible car accident. It robbed me of my hands. My livelihood. Or so I thought.” He shook his head. “I have not driven a car ever since.”

At long last, “From what I’ve seen, you don’t need to,” Loki said reluctantly.

“Silver lining and all that, huh.”

“What?”

Stephen shrugged. “Just a saying.” After a beat, “How are you feeling, by the way?” 

“Tired.” No one was more surprised than Loki when he answered off the bat. “Like I’ve slept for a few hours too long, and the sun is on its way down again."

Stephen nodded. “You could use a few more, I think. There’s still a long way till dawn.”

There must be something Loki found amusing for he was suddenly smiling, albeit very tightly. “I suppose I must get Thor out of your hair then.”

“Give him a break. He was really worried about you.” Stephen rubbed his hand against the side of his neck. “Wouldn’t stop breathing down my neck. I don’t know how you put up with him.”

“Despairingly. Resignedly.” Loki sighed. “Longanimously.”

Stephen laughed a soft, genuine laughter.

Loki stared at him in amazement. “I _am_ in an alternate reality.”

“No, Loki.” Stephen reached out to give an awkward pat on the back of the hand. “I pulled you out. Remember?”

“You will not tell anyone?” Loki asked quietly. “About what you saw?”

“Of course not,” Stephen said reassuringly. “Patient confidentiality and all that.”

Loki’s forehead wrinkled. “Is that what I am now? Your patient?”

“How about a friend?”

Loki sighed again, but his smirk was a bit shaky this time. “I suppose I could be. If I really must.”

Stephen returned the rare smile. “Get some rest.”

“Just – ” stopped Stephen in his tracks, “No more movies. Please.”

“I wouldn’t worry, Loki. We are officially barred from Tony Stark’s Exclusive Movie Club. Indefinitely.”

“Oh thank Heavens.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a prompt fic - I'm sorry if it isn't up to par...I hope it's still enjoyable. 
> 
> References:  
> The movie's title is Vertical Limit.  
> Louis de Pointe du Lac is the protagonist in the Interview With The Vampire/The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.


End file.
